Near the start of the second war in Iraq, a picture began circulating online showing two enormous spiders locked together and dangling from a soldier's uniform -- one of the non-human dangers that soldiers faced in the deserts of the Middle East. An accompanying caption read:


Camel spiders are real. They do live in Iraq. They are big and nasty looking. However, the caption was, for the most part, a collection of false rumors. Camel spiders (also known as Solifugae or Wind Scorpions) do not latch onto camels and feed on their flesh, nor do they feed on humans. They cannot inject anesthesia so that you do not feel it as they feed on you. In reality, camel spiders are non-venomous. They feed primarily on crickets, pillbugs, and other desert creatures their own size or smaller. They avoid humans, but they will bite if they feel threatened, and their bite can hurt. However, it is not fatal.

Although the picture was not digitally manipulated, the proximity of the camel spiders to the camera did exaggerate their size. The largest camels spiders are approximately six-inches long, with their legs outstretched -- plenty large enough to look terrifying.